An early breakfast of a baguette with butter and jam did not prepare us for the three hour bus ride ahead. We bet you're not surprised we were hungry an hour later and indulged in some delicious fresh coconut water right out of the nut.
When we arrived to the Delta we boarded a motorboat that took us to a small island called Cai Be. Here we got see locals making rice paper, coconut candy, and popped rice, all from scratch. We got to sample these delicious artisan treats and even bought some to bring back with us! We'll see if it makes it back. Our guide also let us sample a small sip of banana wine which we detested. He explained that this is used as a fertility method, but we couldn't imagine anyone being able to drink more than a thimble's worth because it was so repulsive. Next, we walked along the river delta to sample pollen tea and royal jelly. The benefits of these two products seemed endless. While the tea is something we imagine making at home, the royal jelly was less than appetizing.
As soon as we finished we embarked on another boat journey. This time we were in a row boat with our two German roommates from the hostel. The boat was guided by a very petite Vietnamese woman. We heard the effects of our constant eating taking a toll on her tiny arms as she grunted down the river.
We arrived at our lunch stop where we ate chicken and elephant fish that was quickly digested on our bike ride through the town (SO much sweat). Our walk back to the bus was through a market containing some interesting sites. These included snakes, frogs, live and less living chickens, various fruits, and more rice than we have ever seen in one place.
Before we left HCMC, we had one final excursion. We ventured to the War Remnants Museum. Here we viewed many photos and artifacts that documented the Vietnam War. We were haunted by the photos depicting the after effects of Agent Orange and action shots from various battles and torture sessions. It was surprising to know that there were so many brave photographers and journalists that were willing to risk their lives to get the message out about the devastation of this war. We would be interested in visiting another museum that had a more diverse perspective.
Isn't this ironic?
Before we left we stumbled upon an exhibit of cages and cells used to house prisoners of war. Nicki looked inside the small window of one cell and was very startled to see an INCREDIBLY life-like mannequin. As she yelped in terror, the nice museum employee was laughing at her.
We continued our travels up the coast to Hoi An. This area is heavily catered to Western tourism as the number of tourists seems to outnumber the locals. This is such a stark contrast to our experience in the Philippines.
We are happy to inform that crossing the street is no longer a life threatening experience. We can also breathe a little easier here, literally and figuratively. The number of locals with face masks has dropped drastically because there is less pollution to inhale.
Last night was spent walking through the night market and exploring the town. As it darkens, small children and old women sell lanterns to float down the river. We were told these represented good luck and upon not buying any we were quickly told we would have bad luck forever by the very aggressive nine year-old girl.
On our walk we discovered the Japanese covered bridge which highlights a key difference between Vietnam and the Philippines. As we kept seeing the term "Indochina" we were very intrigued by what it meant. The influence of Chinese culture on Vietnam is highly visible and what we see here is more of what westerners consider to be typical or traditional Asian culture. The Philippines has much more Spanish influence than what we had expected.
We'll be here until Saturday before venturing further north to Hanoi.
And in case you're wondering, we are safe from the typhoon in the Philippines. We were fortunate to leave before it hit. We'll keep you updated if anything changes.
Love,
Your Sweatier Frizzy Girls
